Asif Raza (former Muslim)

This is a testimony of a Muslim leaving Islam.It was originally posted at the FaithFreedom website and has been reproduced here with permission.Views contained in these testimonies are not necessarily endorsed by WikiIslam. See the Testimony Disclaimer for details.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. It has taken many years for me to gain the courage to leave Islam. Being an intelligent person I have believed deep to my soul since childhood, that Islam is not a religion, but rather false stories created by mankind. I have always wanted to escape the horror of these lies. But I was threatened and scared and forced into Islam. I am very proud and happy to announce that finally I have left Islam. I should mention that my experience has been with Shia Islam. I was raised a Shia Muslim. Therefore my reasons for leaving Islam are based on my years of struggle with the sect of Shiaism. However, I do believe that all Muslims will be able to find reason, like I have, and with courage and self confidence leave this so called religion, so that they can be free and at peace with life.

Muslim books and scholars want you to believe that this is a divine Religion brought down to Earth by God himself. This is a lie. What actually happened is as follows:

1400 years ago, around 600 AD human beings on this planet had found ways to control their societies. For example, the white race had developed a set of rules founded in Christianity, that was used to lead their race down the right path - to teach their people to do good.

Similarly other races on this planet had used their own respective rules or religions to do the same. To teach right, to guide, to help their societies; to control the ones who were headed astray. At this time in Arabia, there were Arabs. These were without a doubt the worst humans on the planet. They were totally and absolutely out of control. It was a disastrous environment.

So the scholars of the time in Arabia decided that they needed a very strict and harsh method of restraining these uncivilized Arab men.

That is when all their rules and regulations on how to live were laid down in a book (that we now call the Quran). If you look at these original rules of the religion of Islam: praying 5 times a day, fasting 40 days a year, no alcohol, etc, you can clearly see how strict it is. Yes, it is for a reason, to control the uncivilized Arabs.

But certainly I, here in the year 2003, living in the west in a civilized society, do not need to pray five times a day, in a language I do not understand (Arabic). I certainly do not (and won't ever) starve myself 40 days out of the year to prove something that I already know about myself.

Muslims insist that Islam is a "way of life." Yes, but it is the "way of life" for a bunch of savage desert dwellers of the 7th century. My dear Muslim friend, use your judgment and intelligence. Do not simply follow false beliefs blindly.

a) Purdah Part One:
Purdah is a component in Islam in which Women and Men are separated at religious functions by a curtain or a wall. Men sit on one side and women sit on the other side. This occurs not only at religious functions but also at weddings and other social functions. What is the purpose of this? Do you feel that sitting with your family (which includes your mother and sister) at a religious function is sinful? Do Muslims feel that other Muslim men will be aroused if they see women at a religious function? If so, then this is ridiculous. Muslim men see women all the time. Anytime you step outside your house you see women, at the mall, at the grocery store, at your job, at your school, everywhere. Surely you are not jumping on every woman you see.

Isolating young men from women has very detrimental effects. What it does is, it places a fear of women in these young men. Since they are never allowed to speak to, look at, or associate with other Muslim females. This leads to a tremendous lack of self-confidence, depression and feelings of self-pity. The simple truth is that men need interaction with women. To cut this off is like cutting off blood supply or removing oxygen from the atmosphere.

The irony is that our Muslim parents want us to marry other Muslims. But with this purdah system, there is hardly any interaction between Muslim girls and boys. These are backward, archaic traditions. Muslims do not have the logic or courage to change or eliminate them. They are more comfortable doing something that is wrong, than changing and doing something that is right.

b) Purdah Part Two:
Purdah also applies to the scarf that many Muslim women wear on their head to cover their hair. This is an Islamic tradition that many hold. They believe that women should not let their hair to be seen because it entices or attracts men. This is not only ridiculous but completely untrue. The most striking feature of a woman is not her hair. It is her face. Some may even suggest that it is her body. But nevertheless, it is not her hair. I feel so sorry for these Muslim women who are forced into this Purdah. Deep down inside they hate it, and they know it is wrong. But they are blamed and made to feel ashamed if they ever try to take off the Hijab

They are brain washed into wearing it and I must admit that the brain washers do a very good job of putting fear into these unfortunate women.

Women in Islam are forced by their parents to marry men whom the parents feel are appropriate. Many parents who live in the west may deny this. But the truth is that the parents place a very strong hold on this tradition. The worst part is that once the marriage has occurred the women cannot leave under any circumstance. Here are the reasons Muslim women have been forced to stay in horrific marriages with Muslim men:

a) Fear of being alone:
They fear that they will not find anyone else to marry. Muslim women who divorce are looked at as tainted and Muslim men rarely accept such women for marriage.

b) Fear of being shunned by the community:
Muslim communities ridicule and make fun of divorced women. You are held in higher regard if you 'put up and shut up' with your abusive husband. Women who break free are considered 'trouble makers' and indecent, in this backward community of Muslims. Very religious women feel that divorce is the worst thing that can happen to them. This is due to the religious teachings they hold so dear. So they have no choice but to stay in a terrible marriage.

c) Cannot break the hold their husbands have on them:
Muslim men know their wives weak points. They know how to control their wives. They know how to effectively lie to their wives. Muslim men believe that their wives are their 'property'.

d) Financial restrictions:
Because many Muslim women are married young, they may not be well educated (due to the culture and it's double standards against women). Therefore they are financially dependent on their husbands, for life.

e) Afraid that a divorce may tarnish her family name:
Many Muslim women feel that a divorce will tarnish the family name and may even lead to lack of proposals for their daughters. So they stay for this reason also.

f) Lack of self-confidence:
This is due to the repeated abuse, young age at marriage and lack of freedom given to women in this religion. Also they would not have the self-confidence to meet or find someone else to marry. It is very difficult or sometimes impossible to bring sense into them. They refuse to take action because of the above listed reasons.

This is a known fact. I could write about 30 pages on this. But I will limit this point to a few paragraphs.

a) The Quran:
It is well known that the holy book of Islam, the Quran, has several verses, which teach Muslims that anyone who is not a Muslim is a Kafir who will go to hell for eternity. It is also written that Christians and Jews are among the non-believers and that Muslims must not associate with them.

My dear Muslim friends. Do you honestly believe in these things? Do you honestly believe that your Christian teacher, or Christian boss, or Jewish neighbor or your Jewish doctor is going to hell for simply because he or she is not a Muslim? I think I have been very lucky in that I have had the opportunity to meet and make friends with many people from all walks of life and religions. This has allowed me to open up my mind and realize that all humans are equal. What separates us is not the religion we are born into, but rather our actions and how we treat others.

b) India vs Pakistan:
Pakistan is a country that was founded by Muslim extremists in 1947 because of their hate for Hindu's in India. When the Muslim founder of Pakistan - Muhammad Ali Jinah - was secretly organizing terrorist activities against Hindu villages, the Hindu father of India Mahatma Gandhi was fasting and holding peace marches in an attempt to end violence and blood shed. Gandhi preached non-violence all his life. Yet he was put into prison by the Brits, many times. In contrast Jinha, who killed, robbed, destroyed and terrorized millions of Hindu's did not spend a single day in jail in his entire life.

I could go on and on but the biggest tragedy is that Pakistani's living in the west, are still being so brainwashed, that they feel that Muslims from India are not as worthy as they are. When in fact it was the Muslims in India who stayed in their country and supported unity! As a result, of all of this turmoil, Pakistani Muslims are taught to hate Indian Muslims and Indian Muslims are supposed to hate Pakistani Muslims. But when they all come and live in the west they become friends out of necessity, because God forbid, they can't associate with Christians or Jews! For an accurate depiction of what Pakistani Muslim Men are like, watch Ayub Khan, Din's magnificent film called 'East is East'.

c) Hypocrisy and Lack of Logic or Reason:
The truth is that Muslims don't care about each other. They don't. Muslims only care about proving that they are better than everyone else. The driving force of the religion is to denounce other religions and to show that Islam is the better. Therefore Muslims, have placed themselves on a false pedestal of superiority. My friends, consider this:

Muslims insist that Muslims should enjoy all human rights and make infinite number of mosques in western countries but ban Kafirs (non-Muslims) from Mecca and Medina.

Muslims insist on the evils of the Western culture and the virtues of Islam but at the same time do everything possible to immigrate to the West in order to escape oppression of the Islamic countries.

Muslims insist that Islam is a logical religion and everyone with pure motives will become a Muslim while forgetting that their own ancestors were forced to accept Islam and many were killed for resisting.

I was born into a Shia Muslim family. Never once in my life did I have any feeling of hatred or animosity toward any Sunni Muslim for any reason. But I am supposed to! Yes, this is correct. Shia's are taught from an early age that to be a true Shia Muslim you must hate Sunni Muslims. We are taught that Sunni Muslims killed our sects founders and therefore we are not allowed to marry them under any circumstance. How ridiculous! It is extremely common for Shia's and Sunni's to make friends with each other, to come over to each other's houses, talk on the phone etc. But as soon as the holy month of Moharrum arrives, Shia's preach hatred toward Sunni's daily at their religious functions. But when Moharrum is completed they go right back to hanging out with their Sunni friends. Someone really needs to explain to these Muslims that they are not only confused but also very sad and disturbed.

This is an obscure point that I myself was very surprised to hear about. Basically Syed means that one can trace his/her ancestors all the way back the Prophet Muhammad (founder of Islam). A Non-Syed is someone who became a Shia Muslim somewhere along the way (in the last 1400 years). Who cares! What kind of religion places a lower rank to members who cannot prove that they are related to the founder of the religion? Does common sense ever enter the minds of these Muslims? I don't think so.

I think that anyone who is financially independent, and who is not afraid, can leave Islam. The only people who stay in this so called Religion are those who are too trapped or too brainwashed. I feel the only way we can make this world a better place is to get to the root of evil. This root is the false teachings of Islam. Freedom and true happiness and the right way to live, can be achieved. My friends, you know what is right; you only have one life, do it now!

I wish the very best to all Muslims and I hope they will not perpetuate these false teachings of Islam to their children. Thank you and hope that you are always happy, healthy and safe.